'Melo 2nd in East for All-Stars

NEW YORK — Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony received the second most votes among Eastern Conference players and will start in next month's All-Star Game.

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony received the second most votes among Eastern Conference players and will start in next month's All-Star Game.

Anthony received 1,460,950 votes, while the Heat's LeBron James garnered 1,583,646.

Kobe Bryant was voted to his NBA-record 15th consecutive All-Star start, leading four Los Angeles players into the game.

Lakers teammate Dwight Howard and the Clippers' Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will join Bryant in the Western Conference lineup for the Feb. 17 game in Houston. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, the MVP of last year's game, rounds out the five.

Kevin Garnett held off Chris Bosh in fan balloting, giving the East two Boston Celtics and two Heat players. James and Dwyane Wade will represent the defending champions and receive passes from Rajon Rondo.

Bryant finished with 1,591,437 votes, edging James by about 7,800 to finish as the leading vote-getter and break a tie with Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West and Karl Malone for the most consecutive starting nods.

The NBA's leading scorer is a four-time MVP of the All-Star game and last year became its career scoring leader.

The ballot changed this year, eliminating the center position. Fans were required to vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.

In Eastern Conference frontcourt voting, the Knicks' Tyson Chandler was fifth and Amare Stoudemire was 11th. Brook Lopez of the Nets was 14th.

In backcourt voting, Deron Williams of the Nets was third and Raymond Felton of the Knicks was seventh.

Garnett beat Bosh, who took to Twitter to stump for votes in the final days of balloting, by about 25,000 votes. He tied Bryant and O'Neal for second all-time with his 15th selection behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was elected to 19 games.